There are about 20 mountain restaurants above the Gstaad region’s various villages, usually three or four for each ski sector. Many of these are traditional mountain huts, serving traditional Alpine cuisine, sometimes to gourmet standard and often with an option of sitting on a sunny terrace to take in the view when conditions are good. In contrast the Restaurant Botta (+41 (0)24 492 09 31) at Glacier 3000 is a spectacular designer smoked glass cube with restaurants on four storeys ranging from snacks to full gourmet meals. The building was designed by architect Mario Botta and has a fantastic sun terrace and bar on the second floor, a self-service restaurant on the third floor and an a la carte table service restaurant on the fourth floor. All in all it's worthy of a visit in its own right, even without the 10km, 1600 metre vertical descent back to the valley to work lunch off before the bus trip back to Gstaad.

Restaurants In Gstaad

Given its calibre, it’s no surprise that Gstaad is something of a foodies heaven with around 100 places to eat in the full region, perhaps half of them in the village itself. Although most serve traditional Swiss mountain meals with cheese, particularly the local Tomme Fleurette produced in neighbouring Rougemont, there are also Italian, Thai and sushi options to be found and the full range of dining experiences from hamburgers to gourmet.

In the latter category, if you have money to spare and want a very special night out try to get a table at La Chesery (+41 (0)33 744 24 51; which has 18 points in the Gault & Millau guide; the highest in a region with 219 Gault & Millau points in total, more than any other. If you want to slum it choose By Dalsass (+41 (0)33 748 79 79; which has only 17 points.

Grocery Shops

Gstaad has a good choice of food stores ranging from traditional specialists like The Dubi bakery (Dubidorfweg 1; +41 (0)33 744 13 24) to all-inclusive small, high-quality supermarkets like the central Coop (Untergstaadstrasse 20; +41 (0)33 748 41 10; which has a full selection of grocery products including meat, dairy and a selection of wines and spirits. There is also a Migros supermarket (Untergstaadstrasse 3; +41 (0)58 567 46 80; )